After the Abyssal Exaltation

[Forn Clakes]

Ok, so i've died, and some freaky yet overly-powerful dead spirit-thing has offered me a choice, a chance to continue, not alive or dead but something inbetween, whispering in tones that tug at my very nature and promising me powers so i can do the all the things that i could only dream about in life.


I agree.


Then what?


What i'm basically enquiring is what happens to the character after they choose the life of a Deathknight?  If they died in battle, do they simply stand up, implement of death wedged firmly through ripcage and think "Damn, that's some freaky shit right there."  Or is it in the style of Highlander, where they come back to Creation (or the Underworld?)later onwards, once a passage of time has passed?


Anyway, enough rambling, just hope i've presented my problem clearly enough.


Cheers,


~FC.

 

[Jakk Bey]

I would go with an extended period of being a corpse. If nothing else, rising up from your own grave or in a tomb would be much more satisfying to the Deathlord, who would want to cement the idea that you are no longer like other critters. You're special. Special enough to get their gift. That, and they probably want to whisk you away for an extended training montage.


But, you could deal with it just like a regular Solar Exaltation--a blast of power, a surge of Malfean-twisted might, that leaves the poor bastiche unsure of what just happened, but with a kernal of knowledge from the Shard that something momentus has occured.


Only difference is, that the new Deathknight plucks the blade from their chest, with full health levels and ready to rock and roll, all over again, instead of a burst of fear/stress/outrage that starts the glowing anima to billow forth.


I'm assuming this is going back to your "Let's Exalt the characters as Abyssals instead of Solars" idea.  If you want drama, give them a moment of dead-i-tude that's dramatically appropriate, and then give them access to a few Charms that seem appropriate--don't let them choose the Charms, let them come up unbidden and give them a description of what their Dread Lord has triggered for them.  Let them Stunt, and then if it looks like a Charm is more appropriate, let them trigger that, by reflex. Later, they can either choose that Charm, or you can just call it a moment of deadly inspiration.  


If you want a little less drama, and more creepiness, let them return as the folks who killed them are looting the bodies and new Deathknights throttle their slayers as they riffle through their pockets and pouches.


If you want high creep, let them burst through their own graves, to scare the bejeebus out of the poor bastiches who just put them down, and then have a Nemessary or other servant show up as they cast around for the shards of their shattered lives, and a coach pulled by skeletal horses comes to whisk them back to their new dread master.


If you want maximum creep, let them awaken, already in the buried, and have them take a few turns in the dark, to figure out how to exricate themselves from their grave, watery or solid, or tomb.  Let them wander a bit before their master comes to claim them, after they scare the bejeebus out of not only themselves, but a few locals.

 

[Forn Clakes]

:twisted:


~FC.

 

[Persell]

We had an ST who decided that the time lapse method was the way to go.  In his game each of us, upon accpeting, had our bodies taken into the well of oblivion.  Although we had exalted immediately after accepting, we met our masters in the labyrinth for training (these were different servants of the malfeans than the deathlords).  There we trained for years to develop our starting charms, etc.  Then we were sent back to our deathlord who trained us further, and by the time we had emerged it had been 5 years.  (We exalted shortly after the empress disappeared)


We all gave ST a hard time for the spawn rip-off, but rather enjoyed training with the "malfeans."  (he hinted that the spirits that trained us were mortal sized aparritions of them).

 

[Silence In Daylight]

Minor point--Abyssals don't actually die. The DL approaches them right at the point of no return; decline and die, or accept--and become a parody of life (yet technically alive, still).

 

[Seiraryu]

It can easily be stipulated that a Deathlord holds the would-be-Exalted's soul in her grasp for a determined amount of time before sticking it back into the not-totally-but-mostly-dead body, along with the tainted Exaltation.

 

[StarHawk]

Right. A ST of mine played it out that, no, you're not dead, your body doesn't go anywhere. You exalt, you glow and from there it's something simular to what happens to Kindred of the East from WW.


You close your eyes, pray for a second and someone answers. You say "get me out of this crap and I promise I'll do whatever you want!" the power says "Rock. You're mine now" and Ding! All at once it's a wave of knowledge. The span of time you learn all this differs from one to the next. For some it feels like 1000 years, for some minutes. Either way, everyone else around just sees you close your eyes and you begin to glow. You get up and lay the smack-down.


On a side note, where are the rules on Infernals? I don't know much about them, and I'd like to know more. If someone points me in the right direction it'd be much appreciated.

 

[Seiraryu]

There aren't really any rules for Infernals.  The closest you get is the Dukantha part of Blood and Salt and the Charm that converts people to Akuma (Infernal Exalted) in the PG.

 

[Flagg]

the Charm that converts people to Akuma (Infernal Exalted) in the PG.

Those ARE the rules for Infernals.


-S

 

[Seiraryu]

the Charm that converts people to Akuma (Infernal Exalted) in the PG.

Those ARE the rules for Infernals.


-S

But they're not... like... actual rules.  They're just a way to convert them.  It's more of a Storyteller grabbing a PC and molding it a bit with player suggestions.  I thought he meant rules as in the rules the other Exalted types get.

 

[Flagg]

But they're not... like... actual rules.

Sure they are. Infernals work exactly like whatever type of Exalt they used to be, except for the changes noted in the PG. What's missing?


-S

 

[Seiraryu]

But they're not... like... actual rules.

Sure they are. Infernals work exactly like whatever type of Exalt they used to be, except for the changes noted in the PG. What's missing?


-S

Alright, let me try this on a simpler note:


They're not unique in their base character creation, and I thought that's what he was looking for.

 

[Persell]

Infernals work exactly like whatever type of Exalt they used to be, except for the changes noted in the PG.

Are we sure of this? As in, is there a developer who's posted to a forum about it, or is there a page ref? I know the PG once or twice uses the phrase "Infernal Exalt" in reference to Akuma, but I've always assumed there's a difference between making an Akuma out of a willing, already-Exalted subject, and permanently warping a shard outside a host.


For one thing, the secret of tainting Solar shards, which the Infernals sold to the Malfeans, doesn't produce Akuma, it produces Abyssals. I have therefore used Abyssals as a model of some general Infernal traits.


When Abyssals die, their shard creeps from shadow to shadow on its way back to its Monstrance. When a Celestial Akuma dies, their shard reincarnates as a normal Celestial, with the taint manifesting as a 5-point Throwback flaw. I imagine the Yozis would be unhappy if those 50 shards they invested so much in simply return to their rightful owners when the Infernals are killed.


An unhappy Yozi is a terrible thing.

 

[Fruan]

An unhappy Yozi is a terrible thing.

Has there ever been a happy Yozi?


Although I will concede that a Yozi's unhappiness and terribleness are probably positively correlated, so any increase in unhappiness beyond the baseline "I'm stuck in Malfeas and it sucks" level will manifest additional levels of terror.

 

[Jakk Bey]

Let's just set our terminology, to avoid further debate on "What is an Infernal".


Let's call an Infernal, one of the 50 Lucky Shards that the Yozi got. Those are the Infernals. They get the capital I--but no Ess-Ess-Eye-Ess-Ess-Eye- Pee-Pee-Eye, because then they'ed be close to Mississippi, and no one wants that. Except maybe for some folks in Alabama.


Let's call the folks who take the Dark Road, perhaps by reading a lovely Yellow number with a broken winged crane on the cover, Akuma. Not Infernals, because the Lucky 50 get the capital I, and they earned it. Akuma are the infernally tainted. Notice the lower case 'i' on that.


Let's call that our convention, so that we don't wind up debating in circles which means what.


We have rules for the infernally Tainted. Maybe that's a better word for the Akuma--and it has some history with WW as well, so it might be more apropos?  No rules for the Infernals, because that book hasn't made it out. We do have rules for the infernally Tainted.  Easy enough to agree to?

 

[Seiraryu]

Sounds sensible to me.

 

[Persell]

We have rules for the infernally Tainted. Maybe that's a better word for the Akuma--and it has some history with WW as well' date=' so it might be more apropos?  No rules for the Infernals, because that book hasn't made it out. We do have rules for the infernally Tainted.  Easy enough to agree to?[/quote']
Sounds good. So, I got the impression that people equate Akuma with Infernals. That's what my argument was directed at.

 

[Flagg]

I know the PG once or twice uses the phrase "Infernal Exalt" in reference to Akuma, but I've always assumed there's a difference between making an Akuma out of a willing, already-Exalted subject, and permanently warping a shard outside a host.

Well then, relaize that you're only making assumptions, and that the PG does call them "Infernal Exalted".


-S

 

[Flagg]

Let's call an Infernal' date=' one of the 50 Lucky Shards that the Yozi got. Those are the Infernals. [/quote']
Why would we do that, when all of the published material calls Exalts who undergo akumatization "Infernals"?


We know almost nothing about what's in store for those 50 Solar shards. You're making a lot of assumptions.


-S

 

[Kajata]

I'm not saying still's wrong or anything, but personally I've always liked the idea of the Akuma not being "proper" Infernals, just a normal exalt that's twisted by the Yozis, whilst the infernals would be an all new exalt type, much like the Abyssals.  I mean, the Yozis taught the deathlords how to do that, so you'd assume they'd go with that rather than just making a load of Solar Akuma, since it'd reduce their power (in the long run) anyways.  I mean, surely, with 50 solar essences that they can freely distort and change as they'd like, they'd try and make some pretty pumped up servants to use in an assault on creation?  I mean, Yozi-powered Solars who can freely waltz out of Malfeas whenever they want an wreak havoc on creation?  Surely they'd want in on that?!